K Street: ‘Let’s meet’; Hill staffers: ‘Text me’

Lobbyists and congressional staffers haunt the same corridors of power, but they don’t always speak the same language.

As they attempt to communicate, deliberate and share information, Congress and K Street are often wildly disconnected, with technology and age exacerbating matters, according to the results of the largest survey of its kind in U.S. history. POLITICO has an exclusive first look at the survey slated to be released Tuesday morning.

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It turns out, Capitol Hill staffers don’t want to be bothered by all of the face-to-face meetings lobbyists set up and insist make a big difference for their clients. Staffers would rather connect by email but ironically find themselves stifled by increasingly antiquated BlackBerry devices.

And even when lobbyists and congressional staff successfully connect to chew over government initiatives and legislation, they routinely arrive with markedly different frames of reference, from the publications and briefing materials they read to the cable news they watch.

The survey, slated to be released in a 116-page document entitled The Congressional Communications Report, is a joint project by The George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management, the Original U.S. Congress Handbook, Lobbyists.info and the Virginia-based market research firm ORI.

Nearly every lobbyist who responded to the survey said they wielded moderate influence over Congress and congressional staff, with almost four in five claiming to be fully influential or “very influential.”

While not even two in five congressional staffers agreed, more than one in five said lobbyists have little or no influence at all.

“Maybe this is a little more hubris in the lobbying community than there should be,” said David Rehr, the survey’s chief researcher and author of the study — a former Republican lobbyist who’s now an adjunct professor at GWU GSPM.

Lobbyists and congressional staffers, according to the survey, agree on this much: the importance of credible, reliable information as the basis for doing business.

For both parties, it ranked higher than any other single factor in determining access of any sort — both achieved and granted. It even trumped a person’s reputation or pre-existing relationships.

But how should that information be delivered and received?

The Holy Grail for lobbyists is scoring an in-person meeting with a congressman or a top congressional staffer — almost half described a sit-down as a “very effective” means of influencing policy.

“A meeting for lobbyists is almost an end [in] itself. Clients want meetings,” said Nicholas Lovesee, a survey researcher. “And lobbyists are trying to sell themselves to clients.”

Congressional staffers roundly disagreed, however, with only one-fifth of staffers saying the same.

Even visits by company chief executives or trade group honchos don’t make a significant impression on Hill staffers, with about one in 10 saying such visits are a “very effective” way to influence them.

“They’re so overwhelmed by what they’re doing and the amount of information they get that they’re trying to control their time,” said Rehr.

Instead, email is the preferred choice for congressional staffers — about three in four say so.

This may, in part, be attributable to age. More than half of the survey’s congressional staff respondents were 35 years old or younger, while just 17 percent of lobbyists said they were in the same age range. Not quite two-thirds of lobbyists identified themselves as being 46 years old or older.

Readers' Comments (6)

Right. they speak the same language; Money, Power. Both are slime but the lobbyists are worse as they help to craft the bills that support Wall St, Banks, big Pharma companies, all the while putting the screws to the American taxpayer.

No political intelligence ( a real oxymoron), no crossing the street, no calling in favors - outlaw the whole slimey bunch and make the world a better place.

Right. they speak the same language; Money, Power. Both are slime but the lobbyists are worse as they help to craft the bills that support Wall St, Banks, big Pharma companies, all the while putting the screws to the American taxpayer.

Wall Street.....Do tell.... what person who works on Wall Street lobbies?

It's a building where people go to work.....Would you rather it close down and move to Hong Kong putting all those people out of work?

I suppose you mean the 'corporations' that are traded on Wall Street.

How about closing the Commodities IN Chicago?.......Close that down also?

Before we throw out all the lobbyist, I wonder what will take the place of personal relationships, another communication device. Lobbyist represent more than just the greedy special interest. Lobbyist educate and alert many members of congress on bills that are otherwise unreadable, written by other lobbyist. Many lobbyist represent your pension plan.